How Listening to Audiobooks Will Change Your Reading Life

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Every time someone asks you to join a book club, you probably give the same canned response: I don’t have time to read. Actually you do, but it will look different from before. We are all working with the same 24 hours in a day, so it’s time to get creative. Let’s talk about the benefits of reading with your ears and I’ll offer several audiobook recommendations in case you’ve never listened to your reading before.

Audiobooks are the answer to questions you didn’t even know you had.

I cannot stress audiobooks enough for anyone who thinks they don’t have time to read as much as they want to. I started listening to audiobooks about 3 years ago and will never turn back. In the past few years, I have listened to a total of 57 audiobooks at the time of this post.

When I teach a book, I like to re-read it at least once in its written form during the semester I am teaching it. I then listen to it once on audio. Most of what I listen to for pleasure is nonfiction. I’ve only listened to a handful of fiction books because I find it hard to immerse myself in the world completely while I drive unless I am taking a long road trip.

If you’re thinking, that’s great, but I don’t have a long commute to work – hold that thought. Here is a list of everywhere I listen to audiobooks:

Taking a walk
On a run
Doing the dishes
In the shower/bath
Folding laundry
At the gym
On the pilates reformer
Lifting weights
Doing hair and makeup
While shaving (guys)
Driving to the store
On the commute to work
Any and every long road trip

It’s not rocket science. I try to read a certain amount of pages everyday, and while I would prefer this to be uninterrupted immersion reading, that’s just not realistic for me or anyone else out there.

Audiobooks are a great solution

Some books are read ridiculously slowly (they buy into the idea that our brains listen and process information slower than we read, etc.). I happen to love fast talkers because they keep me on my toes and the same goes for audiobooks. I typically listen at 1.25X-1.5X the normal speed that a book is read. I’ve done 2X, but it’s not the norm for me. I want to make sure I can retain what I’m hearing.

Here are my Audiobook Recommendations

Fiction

Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Hey, Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (and narrated by Brian Cranston)

I don’t typically enjoy listening to fiction unless I can read along at the same time. This is something I do fairly often, especially when I’m tired. The above books are excellent listens. I was transported to their worlds and believe these would be great first listens if you’re new to audiobooks.

Non-Fiction

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds by Carmine Gallo
Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
The Well Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer

I absolutely love listening to non-fiction. I don’t ever have to be in the mood like when I listen to fiction. I always listen while I clean my house and can get a few minutes and several pages read while I prepare dinner. I typically make progress in an audiobook almost every day of the week.

Daniel Goleman’s books on different kinds of intelligence:

I really enjoyed Daniel Goleman’s works. I listened to all of these while driving and was engrossed by the research and insight they synthesized. They teach you a lot about the mind, emotions, and social interaction in leadership positions and otherwise. If you check them out, let me know what you think.

Authors Reading Their Own Books

My next audiobook recommendation is to find and listen to authors read their own books. There is nothing like hearing the writer speak their words into existence for your mind. You hear their emotion so clearly you can feel it, and I often laugh and cry right along with them.

And what can be even cooler than authors reading their own work is that often well-known actors will often perform works of fiction. Bryan Cranston is the voice reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Basically it’s like Walter White is leading troops in Vietnam. Amazing.

For the parents in the room, I listen to audiobooks with my son and the sound of the reading soothes him. He is starting to talk back to the recording but still often just curiously listens. This should not replace reading out loud to your child because they need that real life interaction with you for emotional development, but it can definitely supplement your reading time.

Okay, okay, so you are probably on board with listening while you live your life and are now wondering how to get your ears on audiobooks. Walter J. Ong expands on the psychodynamics of orality – the lost art of listening in our visually saturated culture. Contrary to what most people think, the reading mind is evolving, and in a constant flux of intellectual becoming. It is up to us to navigate this evolution – after all, some of this territory is uncharted. We are processing information on a scale never imagined.

Do you have a favorite audiobook recommendations? What are your favorite listens? Where do you listen to audiobooks? Let me know with a comment. You might also like Where to Find Cheap and Free Audiobooks Online. There are a few free alternatives, but my go-to is Audible because the quality is consistent. If you want to give it a try, you’ll get a free audiobook. Click here.

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